Day 22! Bent Arrow Traditional Healing Society!

Door 22 has been opened this morning to reveal:

Bent Arrow Traditional Healing Society! http://bentarrow.ca/

Bent Arrow offers a huge range of services and programs to Edmonton's urban Aboriginal populations. From youth play groups to wrap--around family services, Bent Arrow aims to assist community members to build on strengths and grow, proud to walk in the world as Indigenous peoples. 

Bent Arrow is another organization whose programs and services are too numerous to list. They host programs at their Parkdale location as well as all over the city, wherever need for a program is noted. Soup and bannock lunches are popular community building and connecting events at Bent Arrow. Coyote Pride, an extra-curricular program for young people, is popular at schools across the city (my daughter attends :) ) Housing support programs, family wellness, and safety programs are just a few additional of the numerous programs Bent Arrow offers.

Please assist Bent Arrow in maintaining and continuing to develop their life-changing support services.

Bent Arrow's donations are received through CanadaHelps.org, so the PayPal payment option offers an additional 1% to Bent Arrow through the month of December.

https://www.canadahelps.org/en/charities/bent-arrow-traditional-healing-society/

Door 21! The Edmonton John Howard Society!

Door 21 has been opened this morning to reveal:

Edmonton John Howard Society http://www.johnhoward.org/

The Edmonton John Howard Society is as uniquely diverse in its services and programs as it is in its clientele. From youth lacking support systems to victims of family violence to those at risk of involvement or involved in the justice system, EJHS aims to be a support that feels like family, something many people have never experienced.
In their words, [w]e celebrate with our clients when they succeed and we welcome them back when they stumble. "

With a range of client base so broad and services equally so, it's hard to write about all EJHS does without writing a book. In short, they offer supportive and educational programs that meet the needs of their clients.

In short, the Edmonton John Howard Society provides hope and real opportunities for success for the people who walk through their doors or phone in for help.

A vital support in Edmonton, please donate to EJHS. Because their donations are received through CanadaHelps, all donations received in December will be matched at 1% if PayPal is the method of payment. A chance to give more!

https://www.canadahelps.org/en/charities/edmonton-john-howard-society/

With winter here, EJHS is also seeking:

• gently used men's pants 
• t-shirts
• hoodies  

Please call 780.428.7590 for more information or drop off donations to #101, 10010 - 105 Street. 

Monday to Friday 8:30 a.m. - 11:30 a.m. 1:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.

Closed Wednesdays from 12:00p.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Day 20! Compass Centre for Sexual Wellness!

Door 20 has been opened this morning to reveal:

Compass Centre for Sexual Wellness http://www.compasscentre.ca/home/

The Compass Centre for Sexual Wellness is an organization that provides clients with scientific, fact-based, sex-positive sexual health education and counselling. Education and counselling are their expertise and focus, from age-appropriate presentations to upper elementary school students to seniors. They are also LGBTQ2+ positive and inclusive.

Edmonton has, unfortunately, a lack of organizations that support individuals in their needs and their desires around sexuality. The Centre for Sexual Wellness provides services without an agenda, with the knowledge that the individual knows what is best for them, and supports them in whatever their decisions may be.

The Compass Centre for Sexual Wellness helps so many, please donate to their on-going positive programming today! 

https://www.canadahelps.org/en/charities/options-sexual-health-association/

Day 19! JTMF West!

James Tolin Memorial Fund West http://www.jtmfwest.com/ founded by Joyce LaBriola in memory and honour of her friend, James Tolin, who passed away due to AIDS-related illness.

Joyce and a group of friends established JTMF in New Jersey; when Joyce moved to Edmonton, she wanted to continue the work she did with the organization. She added "West" to the name and JTMF West was born.

Through organizing spectacular annual galas and participating in events under the JTMF West banner, the organization raises funds for a variety of groups.

JTMF West explains best, in their mission statement, what they are and what they do:

Our mission is to fight for social justice and the eradication of stigma and discrimination of HIV/AIDS this includes LGBTQ youth & support services while celebrating the philanthropic spirit of the arts.

All funds raised by JTMF West go to local charities working with youth, with people affected by HIV or AIDS, and to arts organizations.

Please donate to JTMF West http://www.jtmfwest.com/ (donation link in top right hand corner of the page.) In five years, they have raised over $100 000 for Edmonton charities; let's help them keep that number growing! 

8 More Charities & The Future of The Giving Advent Calendar

There are so many amazing charitable non-profit organizations in Edmonton, all of which contribute to making this city a better and better place to live.
As I mentioned to Portia Clark on Radio Active, the Giving Advent Calendar hopes to be offering a cross section of organizations: large to small, well-known to lesser-known, all important and requiring financial, volunteer, and other types to donation to continually offer and expand their services.
25 days is simply not enough to cover all of them and it was difficult to select just 25.

That said, the Giving Advent Calendar has been received by Edmonton in ways I couldn't have imagined. It's getting thousands of views a day.

As I mentioned just a few days after I launched the Giving Advent Calendar, this is something I plan to do every year. I threw it together very hastily this year, not expecting much more than to show my partner, for whom it is a Christmas gift (we do donations in our family as the "big" gift) a document of the gift. I realized maybe I could get a few other people interested in giving too, so I started tweeting about it. It was not developed and planned ahead of time in the detail I would usually put into a public project; I honestly did not know it would capture so many of you. It's quite humbling.

Next year, I intend for this to be a much more polished project. There are plans in the works for the #ArtAdventCalendar on Twitter, another Edmonton-based initiative planned spur-of-the-moment like this one, to look at ways of working together or joining as one, bringing some of the best parts of life, giving and art, into something... we don't know what yet. There will be brainstorming and there will be much more work in advance, whether we work aligned or as a joint project.

So although 25 charities got featured this year, there are going to many years to come and many, many more charities, non-profits, and not-for-profits to be profiled.

Thank you for following along for 18 days so far; we have 7 days and 7 more charities to feature. I hope you stick with us for the next week and join in again in 2016!

Day 18! Centre for Family Literacy!

Door 18 has been opened this morning to reveal:

The Centre for Family Literacy Charity http://www.famlit.ca/

The Centre for Family Literacy is one of the charities being featured that is an unsung hero in Edmonton.

The Centre aims to increase family literacy and strengthen families through reading. The goals may seem lofty, but I've had the privilege to see the Centre for Family Literacy in action. It's the sort of thing you witness that brings tears to your eyes; it's work that stays embedded in your memory forever.

Partnering with organizations like ParentLink and Edmonton Public Library, and a number of community leagues, the Centre offers early childhood programs like Books for Babies, Rhymes that Bind, and the C.O.W. bus (Classroom On Wheels) to connect young children and their parents with the joy of reading.

The Centre offers tutoring sessions to adults who have a grade nine level of English understanding and speaking but need some support in literacy at that level and beyond. For many adults, this can be a transformative experience; they may have been "passing" as literate but understanding only parts of written and financial information they have encountered. The confidence gained with increased comprehension is immeasurable; the eagerness for people to read with their children when their own skills have increased is well-documented. Adult tutoring ends up benefitting the whole family (thought it should be noted that tutoring is not restricted to adults with children.) Adults who develop their literacy also tend to become more engaged citizens, more active in their communities, because of increased confidence but also because of their increased reading abilities.

Quoted on the Centre's website and representative of why the Centre for Family Literacy is so important, why its work is so necessary, are the words of Kofi Anan, former Secretary-General of the United Nations:

LITERACY is the road to human progress and the means through which every man, woman and child can realize his or her full potential.

Please donate to the Centre at: http://www.famlit.ca/support/index.shtml or with volunteer time.

Day 17! Elizabeth Fry Society of Edmonton!

Door 17 has been opened this morning to reveal:

Elizabeth Fry Society of Edmonton http://www.efryedmonton.ab.ca/

The Elizabeth Fry Society works to aid women and girls at risk of becoming criminalized or who have been through the justice/corrections/criminal to empower them. They offer a huge variety of programs, preventative through to post-release support. 

Programs like Employment Services help women and girls find meaningful work, navigating the unique barriers they may face. This can include one on on assistance with developing a resume to finding clothing for an interview, as well as working in partnership with the Bissell Centre (Door 1 on the Giving Advent Calendar) to find employment at Bissell.

Elizabeth Fry has staff and volunteers in the provincial court house available on the spot to assist people in gaining access to Duty Counsel (pro bono lawyers.)

It's impossible to detail all that Elizabeth Fry offers without writing for a few hours.

Suffice to say, E Fry, as it is commonly known, is a lifeline to a new life for countless women in Edmonton.

Please donate to assist in keeping all the amazing programs E Fry runs financially viable. http://www.efryedmonton.ab.ca/donations.html 

Elizabeth Fry Society is also seeking in-kind donations of new toothbrushes, toothpaste, dental floss, deodorant, shampoo/conditioner, bars of soap, hand lotion, sanitary napkins, tampons, condoms, razors, combs/brushes for clients.